Woman who took Katrina evacuee's kids cleared

Woman who took Katrina evacuee's kids no-billed

Rhonda Tavey, shown with her attorney, Todd Ward, as she filed for custody of Erica Alphonse's five children.

Rhonda Tavey, shown with her attorney, Todd Ward, as she filed for custody of Erica Alphonse's five children.

Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle

Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle

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Rhonda Tavey, shown with her attorney, Todd Ward, as she filed for custody of Erica Alphonse's five children.

Rhonda Tavey, shown with her attorney, Todd Ward, as she filed for custody of Erica Alphonse's five children.

Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle

Woman who took Katrina evacuee's kids cleared

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After escaping a criminal indictment Tuesday, a Houston woman said she hopes to resume contact with five children she had been accused of kidnapping.

Rhonda Laine Tavey, 44, said her "door is open" to the children she had cared for since Hurricane Katrina, as well as to their mother.

A Harris County grand jury declined to indict Tavey on five charges of kidnapping, finding there was not enough evidence to support her prosecution. And while Tavey has not seen by or spoken to the New Orleans family since her arrest more than two months ago, she believes she can still forge an amicable relationship with the children's mother, Erica Alphonse — even after bitter public mudslinging.

"It's heartbreaking not to see them," Tavey said at her attorney's office Tuesday. "They were our life and still are. And my door is open to them. They are welcome at my house anytime."

Tavey, who claimed she raised the children herself for three years with virtually no financial help from Alphonse or her family, had been accused in court documents of failing to return the siblings to their mother.

Tavey and the children, ranging from 2 to 8 years old, vanished July 11 when Alphonse tried to take the kids back.

The children were in fine condition when they were found Aug. 7 as officers arrested Tavey at a relative's northeast Houston home, the day after a nationwide Amber Alert was issued.

Tavey claimed the siblings would be in danger if allowed to return to New Orleans with their mother. But Child Protective Services found no evidence to support her charges of abuse and neglect. The agency returned the children to Alphonse.

'The dust needs to settle'

Tavey has since dismissed a court petition seeking custody of the children, but expressed disappointment in the CPS decision.

She was vague when asked if she would later renew the custody battle.

"Right now, the dust needs to settle," she said. "Everything needs to just settle from all this. And see where we go from there."

Alphonse, 24, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Her attorney said Tavey appears unrepentant about the damning allegations she lodged against the children's mother.

Ross alleged Tavey made the accusations just to help her own legal defense.

"She appears to be inconsistent in many ways, let me just put it that way," he said.

Tavey said she did what she believed was right.

"They think I'm crazy, but that was something that was set before me," she said. "What I did was take those kids and care and love them like I was supposed to. I never harmed, I never put those kids in danger in any way. I treated them like they were my own children."

She said she has no way to reach Alphonse or the children and doesn't know where they are, so it will be up to Alphonse to initiate contact.

Alphonse's attorney would not disclose the family's whereabouts.

Tavey's attorney, Todd Ward, who handled the case pro bono with attorney Dick DeGuerin, said the Harris County District Attorney's Office conducted a thorough investigation and presented a fair and accurate case to the grand jury.

Tavey and other witnesses made themselves available to testify, but were not called to do so.

Prosecutor Jane Waters, who handled the case, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.